Video of Mexico’s Pemex Explosion Passed off as Saudi Aramco Blast

Drone attacks set alight two major oil installations on 14 September that are run by Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia.

A viral video falsely claimed that it is from Aramco oil refinery blast in Saudi Arabia.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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CLAIM

Drone attacks set alight two major oil installations in Abqaiq and Khurais, that are run by Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, 14 September. A video is now circulating on social media with the claim that it is from the Saudi Aramco oil refinery blast.

Several social media users have shared the video on Facebook with the same claim.

The video is viral on Facebook.

The Quint received a query on the claim made about the video via its WhatsApp helpline.

WHAT’S THE TRUTH?

On breaking down the video into several keyframes, we came across a YouTube video that suggested it is from Pemex refinery in Mexico. The video was uploaded in December 2012, and suggested that the incident is from September 2012.

Yandex reverse search led us to a video uploaded in 2012.

We searched on YouTube using keywords ‘footage pemex blast 2012’ and found multiple videos that claimed that this is a CCTV footage.

Consequently, we searched on YouTube using keywords ‘CCTV footage pemex blast 2012’ and found a video uploaded by Mexican news channel Imagen Noticias.

YouTube keyword search led us to a video uploaded by a Mexican news channel.

The video was uploaded by Imagen Noticias in December 2012. The caption along with the video in Spanish reads “Imágenes de la pasada explosión en instalaciones de PEMEX en Reynosa Tamaulipas”

According to Reuters, a blast took place at Pemex oil refinery near Reynosa in Mexico on 18 September 2012. A top executive of the state-owned company had then said that the incident appeared to be an accident.

“There is no evidence that the explosion was provoked, but rather that it was an accident,” Pemex CEO Juan Jose Suarez Coppel said, Reuters reported.

As many as 26 workers were killed in the fire, while 28 people were admitted in a hospital, the report added.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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